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Dec. 30th, 2006 10:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nnyI just finished watching an old adaptation of The Crow Road by Iain Banks, which remains - certainly my favourite of his stories, quite possibly my favourite book. It's not particularly ostentatious or deep, it's just a wonderful story about the way people's lives intersect.
Possibly one of the reasons it means so much to me is that the characters are very real; there's a lot you could extrapolate as being the author's message behind the words, I suppose, and a lot of that I don't really agree with (although I do find - predictable as I am - the discussions on religion between father and son quite fascinating). But the characters are enough their own selves that I can look on any opinions as opinions of their own and not a heavy-handed moral to the story; the opinions are flawed but so are the characters, and there are a couple of interesting points made. It's like a conversation (a lifetime) with your friends, I guess.
I realise I'm not making much sense here, but that's been something of a feature the past few days/weeks. At least I'm serene about it now, not getting angry at myself for my failings as a communicator.
Anyway, yeah - I wasn't too sure about some of the stylistic choices at first, and the book remains far and away the superior, but the story is told well and engagingly, the casting choices are all pretty good, and Prentice is actually adorable. Another of those literary characters I'm afraid I'm a little in love with.
Also my fingers seem to be trying to protest their Englishness, today. A lot of random 'u's appearing after 'o's, with absolutely no basis in rationality or, indeed, British English spelling.
I really do think there's an Iain Banks book for everyone. I'd kind of forgotten about it, really - a long time ago I was going to have my f-list comment so I could assign them one. He seems more varied in style, I guess, than someone like Murakami, who writes well and interestingly, whose stories are very different, but who seems rather to a specific taste. Of course, it's difficult to tell how accurate I am in this; I personally love Iain Banks, so it could be I'm entirely biased and it's ever so easy to hate him. I'd like to think not. It's always a little extra layer of happy when people like what we like, isn't it?
Oh, except for the times when what we like becomes popular, of course. Then we get all smug and self satisfied and tell absolutely everyone that we liked it first. *g*
I didn't like Iain Banks first, for the record. He's just damned good. Even if he's really not so good at writing women. (Don't read The Business. Seriously.)
...God, now I want to go through my seven boxes of books (all carefully stacked in the dining room, a blanket - carefully aligned so the stripes match - laid over the lot) to see if I can find Espedair Street, my second favourite of his books.
I suspect my mother would kill me.
Possibly one of the reasons it means so much to me is that the characters are very real; there's a lot you could extrapolate as being the author's message behind the words, I suppose, and a lot of that I don't really agree with (although I do find - predictable as I am - the discussions on religion between father and son quite fascinating). But the characters are enough their own selves that I can look on any opinions as opinions of their own and not a heavy-handed moral to the story; the opinions are flawed but so are the characters, and there are a couple of interesting points made. It's like a conversation (a lifetime) with your friends, I guess.
I realise I'm not making much sense here, but that's been something of a feature the past few days/weeks. At least I'm serene about it now, not getting angry at myself for my failings as a communicator.
Anyway, yeah - I wasn't too sure about some of the stylistic choices at first, and the book remains far and away the superior, but the story is told well and engagingly, the casting choices are all pretty good, and Prentice is actually adorable. Another of those literary characters I'm afraid I'm a little in love with.
Also my fingers seem to be trying to protest their Englishness, today. A lot of random 'u's appearing after 'o's, with absolutely no basis in rationality or, indeed, British English spelling.
I really do think there's an Iain Banks book for everyone. I'd kind of forgotten about it, really - a long time ago I was going to have my f-list comment so I could assign them one. He seems more varied in style, I guess, than someone like Murakami, who writes well and interestingly, whose stories are very different, but who seems rather to a specific taste. Of course, it's difficult to tell how accurate I am in this; I personally love Iain Banks, so it could be I'm entirely biased and it's ever so easy to hate him. I'd like to think not. It's always a little extra layer of happy when people like what we like, isn't it?
Oh, except for the times when what we like becomes popular, of course. Then we get all smug and self satisfied and tell absolutely everyone that we liked it first. *g*
I didn't like Iain Banks first, for the record. He's just damned good. Even if he's really not so good at writing women. (Don't read The Business. Seriously.)
...God, now I want to go through my seven boxes of books (all carefully stacked in the dining room, a blanket - carefully aligned so the stripes match - laid over the lot) to see if I can find Espedair Street, my second favourite of his books.
I suspect my mother would kill me.
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no subject
Date: 2006-12-30 10:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-30 10:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-30 10:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-30 11:40 pm (UTC)*hides it from Aziraphael*
no subject
Date: 2006-12-31 12:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-31 01:25 am (UTC)I think my fave is Whit.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-31 08:20 am (UTC)(Does that make any sense? I'm not arguing, I thought Whit was pretty good too. I just prefer Prentice. XD)
no subject
Date: 2006-12-31 08:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-31 08:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-31 09:17 am (UTC)...Oh, really. *speculates*
no subject
Date: 2006-12-31 01:01 pm (UTC)I kinda like Wasp Factory as well, so that probably destroys and credibility I have as a judge of literature. *laughs*